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Amelia

Lysergic – Black Coaches

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Imagine being able to breathe underwater.

That would be pretty cool?

Well I don’t know about you but I definitely can’t. This might be the closest thing however. A concoction of insomnia-soothing swells and concisely constructed beats. Dimly-lit vocals that melt into a wash of tightly knit percussion.

James Blake – Limit to your love (Dauwd Remix) unfinished by DauwdA beautiful creation from a beautiful creation. It’s not always done well. The majority of the time too much is taken away, sometimes not enough, too much is added or not enough attention is paid to the most wonderfully important details. Sometimes you get a remix which literally has just had a few breaks added or some completely unsympathetic synths barged in somewhere in the middle; where it’s still the original which gives the song all its prowess. However, you know when you’ve found a good one. When the delicate hums and melodies are kept glowing. The atmosphere of the song is still so there, only the person behind the remix has constructed, for example, a beat; maybe through twitchy, awkward glitches or a spine-melting bass line, which compliments each aspect to the original artist’s work. They’ve created something so immediate and reflective of themselves, yet still giving so much respect to what was already there. Amazing.

Both are really worth checking out. Fabien Dalzin‘s stuff is in some amazingly deep place between Yann Tiersen and Minilogue and Dauwd‘s, well, it’s all pretty magical. They’ve created two of my favourite remixes right now, of two of my oldest and newest favourites.

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It’s mid-week. I’ve done half of the things I want to achieve this week. I’m stressing over the fact I’m stressing. Downloaded approximately 3GB of music so far and can safely say that I’ve overdosed on coffee and cigarettes. Pretty standard (ish).
Looming is a dead good weekend. But how to survive the next couple of days. Well, this song might just do it. My cure for the mid-week pants-ness, well for this week anyway. Strangely not what I expected from a remix by Martyn of Efdemin‘s careful minimal groove. I was expecting some brain crunchingly dark, Burial-esque take on the song (well there is the “Dark mix” too, which has definitely got some balls). Instead, you get this incredibly organic sound. Swells of bells and climbing piano and watery noises and…birds? Yeah, birds. Normally I’d cringe at this point. It is sort of verging on something you might find on the National Geographic Anthems album (not like that exists like, if it did though) but I’m feeling slightly cured of the fact there are still two days left until the weekend. Woo woo.

When you hear a voice like this coming out of a 16 year old guy, you know you’re onto something special. Each song resonates with maturity, yet it feels so strangely relatable. Out getting ribs makes me think. You know, when a song gives you such a strong inclination to start thinking about something you almost lose those minutes in time, because, well, you are thinking so much. Maybe about that thing you didn’t do. About that thing you didn’t say. About that thing you wish you’d done. About that thing you’re never going to get back. About that thing you want to do, about that thing that slipped away, about that thing you can’t decide on. About that thing you wish you could do. About that thing you’re no good at. Until suddenly the song ends and you have to put it back on again.

Being at university, it’s really easy to get into this sort of bubble. You suddenly have so much time. This seemingly infinite moment in your existence where you can be who you want, do what you want and it comes with this feeling of complete fearless-ness. There is the point though (which if like me, you reached successfully by Christmas) where the loan is drained, the overdraft is being hungrily nibbled at and you’re now living off tea and cigarettes for the foreseeable future. It’s at this point we have to shamefully dip into the bank of mutti and vati, bursting the bubble until the next instalment of funds. I didn’t feel homesick at this point, but I started thinking about strange things at home I missed. One of them actually turned out to be the bus home. I missed that 30 minutes, where I was neither at point A or B. When I could plug my headphones in, look out of the window and just simply think.

I stumbled across a remix of White Lies which jolted this strange memoir of home. Their music always give me this weird feeling of elevation, with vocals that pull on your heartstrings and subtle injections of, in this instance, violin which evoke a whole other dimension to their songs. M83 are along the same lines, and they’ve done this song so much justice. Throwing over it a cosmic wash, with mind-melting synths and a swelling bass which when collided, turn into something somewhat otherworldly.

It definitely made me miss those self-indulgent 30 minutes, and I’d of loved to be watching the world (well, Kesgrave) simply pass me by.
Milly

Foxx Bandits – Paper Planes

So it’s 7.16am and I haven’t quite been to bed yet. I’ve been mulling over this first post for a couple of days. Scrapped and some more scrapping. I think it’s something to do with new year and the coming of a whole 365 days of guaranteed new swell of musical delights (well, my first post on APFOS maybe too). It’s dead exciting but at the same time, it’s sort of like where do I start?

Listening to Foxx Bandits on a big fat comedown of a New Year’s day really did somewhat cuddle my frazzled head in a way that a band hadn’t done for a long time. Their EP ‘Gold Dresses’ is just, simply, wonderful. You put it on and you just get this familiar feeling. Like when you randomly catch a nice smell which gives you this vivid memory of being somewhere pleasant a long time ago; you can’t place it, but it makes you smile. It was like going back two or three years, but without the cringing. Like someone had gone through all those years and taken each of the happiest moments and given them to me in a nicely wrapped box. However, it’s their cover of Paper Planesthat I was lying there listening to on repeat. I spent ages thinking who is the original by? I just couldn’t put my finger on it even though it’s such a massive track. They take it to this whole other place, like it’s been put in an oven and come out as this really yummy cake. “Dreampop folkgaze” is the genre they’re under on one of their tracks and it catches every element of their psychadelic yet washed-out, straight up yet continuously unpredictable sound.